claims to New Mexico, Texas to receive
$10,000,000. This last provision to be inserted in the bill provided
for in No. 4.

6. A new and stringent fugitive-slave law.

7. Abolition of the slave trade, but not of slavery, in the District of
Columbia.

Three bills to carry out these recommendations were presented:

1. The first bill provided for (a) the admission of California as a free
state; (b) territorial governments for New Mexico and Utah without any
_restriction_ on slavery; (c) the present northern and western boundary
for Texas, with a gift of money. President Taylor nicknamed this "the
Omnibus Bill," because of its many provisions.

2. The second bill prohibited the slave trade, but not slavery, in the
District of Columbia.

3. The third provided for the capture and delivery of fugitive-slaves.

During three months these bills were hotly debated, and threats of
disunion and violence were made openly.

%381. Death of Taylor; Fillmore becomes President.%--In the midst of
the debate, July 9, 1850, Taylor died, and Fillmore was sworn into
office. Calhoun had died in March. Webster was made Secretary of State
by Fillmore. In some respects these changes helped on the measures, all
of which were carried through. Two of them were of great importance.

[Illustration: Millard Fillmore]

%382. Popular Sovereignty.%--The first provided that the two new
territories, New Mexico and Utah, when fit to be admitted as states,
should come in with or without slavery as their constitutions might
determine; meantime, the question whether slavery could or could not
exist there, if it arose, was to be settled by the Supreme Court.

%383. The Fugitive-Slave Law.%--The other important measure of the
compromise was the fugitive-slave law. The old fugitive-slave law
enacted in 1793 had depended for its execution on state judges. This new
law of 1850

1. Gave United States commissioners power to turn over a colored man or
woman to anybody who claimed the negro as an escaped slave.

2. Provided that the negro could not give testimony.

3. "Commanded" all good citizens, when summoned, to aid in the capture
of the slave, or, if necessary, in his delivery to his owners.

4. Prescribed fine and imprisonment for anybody who harbored a fugitive
slave or prevented his recapture.

[Illustration: %Results of the COMPROMISE of 1850%]

No sooner was this law enacted than the slave owners began to use it,
and during the autumn of 18